State Senator Fined For Double-billing

May 07, 2009|By JON LENDER and EDMUND H. MAHONY; jlender@courant.com

Veteran state Sen. Thomas P. Gaffey, D-Meriden, was fined $6,000 and hit with thousands more in additional sanctions Wednesday for double-billing travel expenses to the state and his own political action committee in one of the largest state elections enforcement settlements ever, officials said.

The State Elections Enforcement Commission took the action Wednesday morning when it unanimously approved two negotiated agreements with Gaffey and the treasurer of his political action committee after months of investigation of his political billings.

The first agreement concerned the $6,000 fine, which Gaffey must pay from his personal funds. The second imposed a $3,000 fine on Meriden lawyer Dennis A. Ceneviva for failing to exercise control as treasurer of Gaffey's political action committee, the Government Action Fund.

In addition, Gaffey agreed to dissolve the so-called GAF PAC within 30 days and forfeit the money it contains - estimated at about $20,000 now, but probably about $10,000 after settling outstanding expenses - to the state. He agreed not to organize or control another PAC for a year, and if he does eventually form a new one, he must participate in a campaign finance seminar.

Neither Gaffey nor Ceneviva appeared at the hearing. Later, Gaffey issued an apology, in a statement issued through a Democratic Senate staff aide, saying that "we have cooperated fully. I have acknowledged my responsibility for the errors made, and recognize that I should have been more attentive to the details and requirements of the reimbursement process. I will pay a significant fine because of these errors. I want to express my profound regret to my family, colleagues, and the people I represent."

The elections agency's enforcement director, Joan M. Andrews, said that the record-keeping of Gaffey's PAC was "disastrous," and that the lengthy investigation of the case required a "massive reconstruction effort."

Gaffey violated the law when charging expenses to the PAC, she said. Rather than charge an expense to his credit card, then pay the bill and submit that bill to the PAC for reimbursement - which is the legal way to do it - he charged the expense and just had the PAC pay the credit card bill, Andrews said.

Elections enforcement officials said that Gaffey's fine is the "second largest ... for campaign finance violations against a sitting elected official" - with the largest being $25,000 against former Hartford High Sheriff Walter Kupchunos for accepting improper loans during his 1994 campaign.

The commission, in a written statement, condemned Gaffey's personal use of the PAC funds as "a serious and grave act" - especially his double-dipping of payments from both the state and GAF PAC.

The agency said that Gaffey had already undergone audits and public scrutiny more than five years ago about irregularities and improprieties involving GAF PAC, and thus "knew or should have known to be more attentive to the expenditures and reporting requirements."

Former legislator Thomas Luby, the lawyer for Gaffey and Ceneviva, said that "the process was very rigorous and detailed and the parties wanted to put this behind them." Luby declined to comment when asked whether the settlement was fair and whether it could fall under criminal investigation by state prosecutors.

Asked whether the elections agency had already had contact with the office of the state's top prosecutor, Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane, Andrews declined to comment and said, "You'll have to ask Kevin Kane about that."

Kane's office had no comment.

The commission said in the settlement documents that Gaffey had billed $2,804 in expenses to the state legislature and to his PAC. It also said that between 2004 and 2007, Gaffey received a benefit from his PAC in the form of $5,084 in payments for his personal cellphone expenses.

In addition, the commission found that Gaffey caused his PAC to pay a relatively small sum to cover the costs of another cellular phone used by a person that the commission called a companion. During an interview earlier this year, Gaffey acknowledged that the companion was his former girlfriend, Patricia Murphy.

The 15-month elections enforcement investigation grew from questions about flights to several legislative conferences and hotel bookings by Gaffey from about 2004 to 2007. Gaffey solicited and received reimbursement for the travel from the state's legislative management office and his PAC.

For example, Gaffey was reimbursed $613 by the legislative management office for three days in August 2006 at the luxury Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn., during a National Conference of State Legislators annual meeting - and he received $1,015 from his PAC for the same hotel stay.